I once found myself trapped on a phone call with an exercised adherent of the Ḥanafī school of Islamic law who made it clear that the conversation was not going to end until I acknowledged that Abū Ḥanīfa (d. 767), the school’s founder, was the greatest Hadith scholar in Islamic history. This is not unheard…
Even If It’s Not True It’s True: Using Unreliable Ḥadīths in Sunni Islam
Summary Sunni Islam is at heart a cult of authenticity, with the science of ḥadīth criticism functioning as a centerpiece designed to distinguish authentic attributions to the Prophet from forgeries. It is thus surprising that even after ḥadīth scholars had sifted sound ḥadīths from weak, mainstream Sunni Islam allowed the use of unreliable ḥadīths as…